Mysterious 'furry green' snake shocks locals: 'Never seen one'

A mysterious 'furry green' snake has been found floating in a swamp in Thailand.

The two-feet (about 0.6 metres) long creature appeared to be covered in fur when it was found in Sakhon Nakhon province last Saturday.

It was taken home by local Tu, 49, after he noticed it moving slowly in the dirty water near his home while he was walking.

This snake which appears to be covered in fur was found in a Thai swamp.
This snake which appears to be covered in fur was found in a Thai swamp. But one expert says it's actually algae. Source: Viral Press/Australscope

He then kept it in a jar before showing it to his confused family members who were baffled by the creature's dragon-like appearance.

"I have never seen a snake that looked like this before. My family and I thought it would be useful to let people find out what it is and research about it," Tu's niece Waraporn Panyasarn, 30, said.

She took a video of the animal and posted it online, asking for experts to find what the creature was.

The family kept the snake at home and fed it small fish while waiting for authorities to identify the animal.

So what is this snake?

Some locals said the furry reptile could be a puff-faced water snake that had moss growing on its body from waiting so long in the swamp to catch its prey in the still, shallow water and rocky crevices.

Sam Chatfield, who is snake species coordinator at Wildlife ARC on the NSW Central Coast, told Yahoo News Australia it did look like a puff-faced water snake with algae growing on its scales.

"The scales are on top of skin and mostly made of keratin. It's like having a layer on top of the skin and when they shed they're shedding the outside of those scales," she said.

"Next time it sheds it (the algae layer) will come off."

Ms Chatfield said she could already see the reptile had been rubbing off the scales on the front of its face to see better.

The mildly venomous species of water snake is believed to have originated from the Indonesian archipelago.

– with Australscope

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